Studies project, a major longitudinal study that provided data for many influential papers. These studies tracked physical measurements and "mental test findings" of approximately 3,500 subjects over a 12-year period beginning in the subject's first-grade year.[1] Dearborn's work was critical in disproving then-prevailing theories regarding strong correlations between physical and mental development. He also identified key developmental milestones that influence approaches to education and theories of human development to this day. Dearborn retired from Harvard in 1942, then joined the education and psychology faculty at Lesley College, now Lesley University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At the time, Lesley College was operating several laboratory schools, including programs for students with special needs. These schools soon adopted methods that Dearborn had developed for teaching students of average to above average intelligence who were nonetheless struggling with reading and mathematics. The schools gave Dearborn and his students a real-life setting in which to experiment with instructional methods tailored to individual students. The success of these schools, which were consolidated and renamed the Walter F. Dearborn Academy, was one of Dearborn's proudest accomplishments. (p. 145) Dearborn was made a trustee of various institutions. These included: the Massachusetts State Infirmary twice from 1913–14 and 1915–1933, Walter E. Fernald School from 1942. He was also a member of the Council of American Psychological Association from 1918-20. Dearborn died on June 21, 1955 from complications following a severe brain hemorrhage. Contributions to psychology and education Dearborn's career included important contributions to the fields of reading education, cognitive psychology, educational assessment, and child development. Most significant has been his research in reading differences, eye-movement and visual fatigue, child development, intelligence testing, and the sociology of unemployment in young people. Dearborn provided critical frameworks for understanding and treating reading difficulties and was among the first psychologists to refute the generally held view of "congenital word blindness" (now known as dyslexia). Recognizing the wide range of abilities and differences that normal children can have, Dearborn showed that reading difficulties and intellectual capacities were not always connected and that pupils with average and above average intelligence may process language in different ways, thus creating challenges in the way reading was taught. In describing the difficulties some students had with reading, Dearborn wrote, "There are quite possibly cases with no intellectual defect or shortcoming either general or specific, where a combination of unfortunate circumstances combined with faulty learning may result in a disability